What infuriates many people about America's legal system is that it turns common sense into a bottomless sinkhole of nonsense.

A perfect example of this phenomenon was on full display at the military trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and four of his cohorts charged with various crimes associated with the 9-11 terrorist attacks of 2001. Convictions could result in the death penalty.

The men had told the court they would be their own lawyers and mount a vigorous defense against the charges, but when the trial got underway they withdrew their plea of innocence, said they would confess to the crimes, and asked to be put to death. Khalid even admitted to masterminding the attacks.

Clearly, the jihadists decided they wanted to be martyrs to their twisted cause -- and certainly this should have simplified matters for the court. Terrorists want to die? Fine. Grant them their wish and be done with it. Their up-front admissions of guilt would save taxpayers a bundle of money, because death penalty trials, with all their appeals and so on, are extremely expensive.

The judge and prosecutors were stunned by the confessions. But they just couldn't let a simple matter stay simple.

It had to get complicated.

The judge said he wasn't sure he could apply the death penalty without a jury trial. By this reasoning, the terrorists could avoid the death penalty by admitting to their guilt.

On the other hand, if they are serious about wanting to die, then they apparently have to go before a jury, deny their guilt, and hope the jury finds them guilty anyway.

That's our legal system for you! Don't make anything easy if it can be made difficult. And stand reason on its head.

Further complications ensued when the judge anguished over the mental competency of a couple of the defendants. Wasn't it a little late in the game for that? That issue should have been resolved before the trial began.

Ultimately, the terrorists' formal confessions were delayed until the confused court could decide what to do about them.

Lest there be any doubt about their guilt, here's what one of the defendants blurted to the court in Arabic: "I reaffirm my allegiance to Osama bin Laden. I hope the jihad continues, and I hope it hits the heart of America with weapons of mass destruction."

Death is too good for these Islamic lunatics. The harshest punishment would be to deny them the martyrdom they seek.

A legal system based on common sense instead of mumbo-jumbo would lock them up in an isolation cell until they die of old age.